


I missed you too

by PsychoCrazyHoseBeast



Category: Total Drama (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Pet cuteness, Set after ROTI
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 14:08:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19064227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychoCrazyHoseBeast/pseuds/PsychoCrazyHoseBeast
Summary: A month after Revenge of the Island, Brick still can't stop thinking about Jo. When a chance encounter at the local vets brings the two face to face, he discovers maybe he wasn't the only one...Written for a friend who loves Jock.





	I missed you too

Following the insanity that had been Total Drama, Brick had returned to his old life. He has been glad to fall back into the familiarity of his training as a Cadet, grateful to see all his fellow soldiers-in-training and his commanding officer. None of them had made any reference to the show, and so it was as if it had never happened. Brick is mostly glad for this. He did not need a reminder of how he had revealed on International television that he wet the bed, nor that he had been convinced to leave a man behind (an act which still haunts him).

For the most part, Brick himself does not think about Total Drama. It is only at night, in the grey areas between sleep and wakefulness, that his thoughts sometimes stray. He misses most of the people he met on the show. He wonders how Dawn and B and Dakota and Sam are all getting on. He even thinks about Scott- underhanded as he may have been, Brick genuinely hopes the farm boy will recover enough to leave his trauma chair one day. However, the person Brick finds himself thinking about most is Jo.

Brick tells himself it is reasonable to think about her so often. Jo had proved time and time again her strength and capability, and he is certain she would have made a fine cadet. He simply thinks about her because he is mourning a lost opportunity for his squadron. And as for the other thoughts… memories of Jo laughing, imagining what she would look like in a dress he himself designed… well, Brick pretends those thoughts don’t exist. It does not matter in the end, for he is never going to see Jo again. Even he cannot pretend that the fact that he would never see Jo again does not hurt a little (okay a lot).

It is a funny thing, how thoughts of Jo will occasionally strike him while he is wide awake. Times like now, sitting among strangers in a veterinary practice’s waiting room gently holding Boulder, his squadron’s mascot. The bulldog is due his yearly vaccinations, and as Brick’s “no man left behind” policy extended to four legged fellow soldiers he had happily volunteered to accompany Boulder for his appointment. Sadly, the practice was running late, and so Brick’s thoughts have had time to wander.

He is so lost in his thoughts of Jo that he doesn’t even register as another person enters the waiting room and freezes in their tracks.

“Sergeant Sweatpants?”

Brick’s heart skips a beat at the sound of a voice he’d been convinced he’d never hear again. He looks up, and realises he must have been less with it that he thought as he seems to be hallucinating. That is the only logical explanation for him seeing what appears to be the one person he can’t stop thinking about, standing before him, a look of surprise matching his own on her face.

“… Jo?”

Jo, or the person Brick was hallucinating to look like her, seems to recover first. She schools her expression into a practiced smirk, rolling her eyes in exaggerated exasperation.

“No, it’s Anne Maria. Of course it’s me you dolt. What are you even doing here?”

Same voice, same face, same biting banter. This is no hallucination. Jo really is standing before Brick. Of all the million things he wants to say, his brain will only let him answer the question. One hand raising in a habitual salute, he barks out.

“I’m here on cadet duty ma’am. Boulder here requires his vaccinations, and no man left behind extends to no dog.”

A flicker of something that might have been respect had it been on anyone other than Jo crosses her face, but she quickly hides it. Now Brick has gotten over the initial shock of seeing her, he is able to take in her appearance properly. She’s wearing the same grey sweatpants and hoodie, prized whistle hanging from her neck. Something within his chest feels lighter at seeing that she’s just as beautiful… ah, capable, as he remembered. As Brick is busy staring, something stirs in Jo’s arms. To Brick’s surprise, a small grey bundle that had been blending in with her hoodie yawns, and then two green eyes open to stare at him.

“You… you have a kitten?”

Jo’s eyes narrow, her body tensing.

“So? Cats are ferocious predators. This little guy was in the shelter, I couldn’t just let some pansy old lady coddle him. He’s going to grow into a fine, fierce warrior…”

The kitten interrupts, mewing loudly. Without thinking, Jo’s free hand instantly goes to tickle it’s chin, voice dropping softer than Brick’s ever heard it.

“Shhh, it’s okay. Does my brave little warrior want some skritches…”

Jo suddenly seems to remember where she is, and who she’s talking to. A red flush spreads across her cheeks, and she hastily coughs.

“Ahem, yes. A completely fierce predator.”

Brick finds something oddly endearing about Jo’s toughness softening for one helpless ball of fluff. Wanting to reassure her, he offers a friendly smile.

“Of course ma’am. Cats are indeed ferocious predators. There is no shame in being the proud owner of such a fine beast.”

Jo seems somewhat appeased by this, a small smile returning to her face.

“Yeah, yeah there isn’t. Looks like you’re not as thick headed as I remember.”

Brick revels in the familiarity of the light teasing Jo gives him. It feels so natural, so right, to be talking to her again. It’s like it’s been hours, not nearly one month, since they last saw one another. At the back of his mind, a voice whispers. She said as I remember. Maybe she’s been thinking about you too. Not wanting the conversation to end, Brick elects to ask about the kitten.

“I try my best. Does the young warrior-in-training have a name?”

“Nope. I just call him cat.”

Jo answers just a little too quickly. Brick feels his heart sink. Maybe she doesn’t want to talk to him as much as he wants to talk to her. Maybe this is just a fluke, and after today he will never see her again Maybe…

At that moment the door to the examination room opens, to reveal a smiling blonde with lazy green eyes.

“Hello, sorry for the wait. Would Jo please bring in…”

She pauses, checking the clipboard she holds, before continuing.

“Brick for his twelve week check up. Thank you!”

The Vet disappears back into her room, but Brick doesn’t notice. Jo, now bright red, seems lost for words.

“It’s… it’s not what you think…”

Brick can’t help the smile spreading across his face. Emboldened by what he’s just discovered, he dares to say what he really wants to.

“It’s okay. I’ve missed you too.”                                                                                                    


End file.
